Tying The Knot: A Unique Country House Wedding

From the very beginning, the point of our real wedding posts were to share the love, and show people that you really can host any kind of wedding you like, choose any kind of dress and go totally elaborate or utterly simple and anywhere in between. So today we are delighted to share with you Keelin and Tris, and their unique and inspirational country house wedding. Confident in their own style and tastes, Keelin and Tris didn't cave in to any outside pressure, or stick to any preconceived traditions and as result their wedding is 100% unique, and 100% Keelin and Tris. If you're looking for an instant hit of unique inspiration, this gorgeous couple's wedding captured by Katie Farrell is the one for you.

This gorgeous couple first met whilst they were both working for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity dedicated to saving lives at sea. As it's a large organisation, Tris and Keelin worked in different departments and rarely ever saw each other. Then one evening, Tris approached Keelin and asked about her weekend plans. As luck would have it, they were both travelling to Edinburgh that weekend. They decided to meet up while they were abroad and once they got home they began to date for real.

Once they began to date, they quickly realised that they lots of mutual friends and even more in common. Later down the line, Tris, the romantic of the two, planned a romantic staycation at the Irish Landmark's Gally Head Lighthouse for Keelin's birthday. Keelin explains what happened next,"On the first day he planned for us to go to the spa in Inchydoney hotel so my nails were done! And that night it was really stormy so we sat in at the lighthouse and lit the fire and had a lovely dinner. The next day Tris had arranged a photographer under the pretence that we had no nice photos of us together, what I didn’t know is that they had it all planned and at the end of the photo shoot the photographer said he wanted one last shot of us walking hand in hand. As we walked away, Tris started talking in Irish and I was like 'hang on a second what’s happening here?' He then got down on one knee and took out the ring he had chosen all on his own! I think I ran away a little but then came back and said yes! The photographer had caught it all on camera which was amazing! We then went back to the lighthouse and popped open a bottle of champagne!"

A quick glance through these photos and you will quickly realise Keelin and Tris have a very strong sense of individual style, which they were keen to reflect in their wedding. Having the best day ever was never the priority, instead it was for everyone to leave and think “Wow, that was so Tristan and Keelin”. To achieve this Keelin and Tris knew they'd have to find the perfect venue, to which they would have the freedom add their personalities, where they could celebrate their nuptials outdoors and feel totally at home within.

Keelin explained their thoughts... "We both had a really strong idea of what we wanted in a venue but articulating this was hard… it was more about a vibe and an atmosphere as well as having all the particular logistical requirements. Not too much to ask for then!"

Finally, after numerous visits elsewhere, Keelin and Tris paid a trip to Ballyvolane and instantly knew the search was over. "We weren’t too sure what to expect when we visited Ballyvolane House – as it turned out it was love at first sight! We fell in love with the warmth and the décor and the feel of the whole place, and for me as soon as I met Justin & Jenny I knew I could relax and I knew our ideas and our event (I mean wedding!) would be in safe hands. From the first moment we met Justin on our first site visit, to sitting down with Jenny to make a logistics planner for the weekend after our tasting night and all the many many detailed emails to their wonderful staff, it just felt so right. For Tristan the major selling point was that he and the rest of the bridal party arrived to the ceremony by vintage land rover!"

With the perfect venue found, Keelin and Tris began to plan a very "country gent" wedding day with lots of sticking feathers, rustic charm, hints of country opulence and an outdoor ceremony under the October sun.

The humanist ceremony was held in the gardens of Ballyvolane with lots of tailored elements to personalise each aspect, including a nod to Keelin and Tristan's time spent working at sea.

Keelin explains,"We included reading and poems that were close to our hearts (and light hearted at the same time!) read by my mom, my godmother and our sisters. We also included a special moment where we “tied the knot”. Tristan works at sea as a ships officer and we are both really keen sailors, when we were researching the ceremony we came across a lovely story about sailors and their sweethearts in olden days and wanted to include this in our ceremony."

Tris also got involved adding a little sentimentality to the day, lining the walls leading up to the reception with photos of his and Keelin's travels, as well as organising for his brother in law to provide ceremony music using his ipod and speaker.

Style wise, Keelin and Tris carefully chose their outfits to reflect what that really love - instead of what might be traditionally expected of a bride and groom. Keelin opted for quite a classic Yolan Chris wedding dress (not what she had in mind originally, but once the girls at Little White Dress recommended it she couldn't resist) which she accessorised bravely with a striking custom feather headpiece, Tris' grandmother's fur for when it got cold and earrings belonging to Tris's mom.

Equally as stylish as his bride, Tris chose head to toe Ted Baker for the day including a burnt orange tie and unique feather boutonnière.

Combining the "country gent" aesthetic along with a nod to their nautical background, Keelin and Tris decorated Ballyvolane with a mixture of subtle ship and sea references as well as lots of rich orange, some vintage elements and of course, some more feathers.

Venue and distinctive style aside, photography was another huge element of importance on the day. Having put so much effort into the wedding Keelin and Tris felt it was only right to invest time into finding the perfect photographer to capture it all, which they found in the lovely Katie Farrell. Keelin advises, "be clever with your money, cheaper is not always better – decide what is important to you and don’t scrimp on that, for us it was photography & the venue…We agonised about the photographer but as soon as we met Katie for a coffee we knew she was going to get it right… and she did!!! Having a second photographer and having Katie make our amazing 5min movie were all good choices!"

To get some more candid snaps Keelin and Tris also asked guests to take a selfie during the day with Polaroid cameras which they provided. "We wrote all the guests names on luggage tags and hung them on some string. We then left props and a Polaroid camera on the table nearby, during the drinks reception, people had to take a selfie and replace their name with a photo - these proved to be hilarious when we looked at them afterwards."

Not quite sure how to incorporate your own style and personality into your day? Keelin has some advice "In the run up to the day… Pinterest and other people’s weddings can be your best friend and your worst enemy. There are so many great ideas out there you will become snow blind!!! Relax, take a step back and remember the best weddings are the one's where the day felt like the Bride and Groom. We never wanted everyone to say “that was the best wedding ever” because some of our ideas were not to everyone's taste, some of our choices would not have been right for everyone - all we wanted everyone to say was, “Wow, that was so Tristan and Keelin”."

To end the night, Keelin and Tris danced to music provided by a family friend. Huge congrats to you both, and thank you so much for sharing your inspiring wedding with us all.